Head
Members
Atherstone, Dr. Juliet
Au, Dr. Calvin
Brodkin, Dr. Igor
Durkin, Dr. Chris
Finlayson, Dr. Gord
Fitzmaurice, Dr. Brett
Foglia, Dr. Julena
Grocott, Dr. Hilary
Isac, Dr. George
Hecht, Dr. Patrick
Hughes, Dr. Bevan
Lohser, Dr. Jens
McEachern, Cyrus
Mullane, Dr. Darren
Noble, Dr. Graham
Pitfield, Dr. Sandy
Romano, Dr. Kali
Schisler, Dr. Travis
Schulein, Dr. Simone
Umedaly, Dr. Hamed
Cardiac Anesthesia Services
Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) is the largest tertiary care hospital in British Columbia and second largest in Canada. The VGH Cardiac Surgery program conducts 800-900 cardiac surgical procedures on cardiopulmonary bypass per year, including mainly coronary bypass grafting and complex aortic, mitral and tricuspid valve repair or replacements. The VGH Aortic Clinic provides specialized surgical care for patients undergoing complex thoracic aortic repair and thoracic endovascular aortic repairs (TEVAR). Additionally, VGH is home to the only robotic cardiac surgery program in B.C. and the minimally invasive cardiac surgery program, which performs minimally invasive (MIS) valve repairs, ASD/PFO closures, and cardiac mass resections.
The Division of Cardiac Anesthesia also serves as the medical lead for a 12 bed post cardiac surgery intensive care unit (CSIUC) that specializes in the care of complex postoperative cardiac and aortic surgery patients while revolutionizing enhanced recovery (ERAS) after cardiac surgery. We also support the VGH Intensive Care Unit (a high volume ECMO centre), cardiac electrophysiology and interventional cardiology programs. VGH cardiac anesthesiologists are thereby involved with numerous interventions outside of the operating room including: transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), transcatheter mitral edge-to-edge repair (TEER), left atrial appendage closures, electrophysiology/ablation cases, emergency VA ECMO initiations, and B.C.s only emergency pulmonary embolism thrombolysis program (PERT).
VGH is the main teaching hospital for the province. VGH cardiac anesthesiologists provide specialized training in cardiovascular physiology, pharmacology and cardiac echocardiography for fellows, residents and medical students across a broad range of training programs.
